This invention relates to a weapon bolt assembly including a firing pin unit and an arming (tensioning) device therefor. The firing pin unit is displaceably supported in a part of the weapon bolt and has a striker plunger and a firing pin which is attached to the striker plunger. The arming device includes a firing spring which may be armed to exert a force against the firing pin unit.
Arming devices of the above-outlined type for firing pin units have been used in handheld and shoulder weapons as well as in propellant-driven pin setting devices as disclosed, for example, in German Offenlegungsschrift (application published without examination) 1 703 439 or 1 728 198. In order to arm the striker plunger, the latter is either pressed by a spring into the bolt or is withdrawn against the force of a spring by means of a slide member which engages a detent lug of the striker plunger.
It is a disadvantage of the first-noted alternative according to which a spring shifts the striker plunger into the armed position that the technological outlay is relatively high. As to the second alternative, according to which the striker plunger is tensioned against the force of a spring, the risks are not negligible that in case of a malfunction of the detent lug, the firing pin slides forwardly and prematurely ignites the cartridge during the loading process.